Happy Home

Tomato/Basil Pasta

This is one of the simplest and most useful recipes I know. You throw everything in a pot and out comes something wonderful.  Essentially the starch leaches out of the pasta and makes a rich, warm sauce for the noodles.

12 ounces pasta - we used fettuccine, but nearly any kind will do

15 ounces canned diced tomatoes with liquid

1 large sweet onion, julienned

4 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves

2 large basil leaves, chopped

4 1/2 cups broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

Parmesan 

Place all ingredients except cheese in Dutch oven. Drizzle with oil. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. Salt and pepper to taste, stirring several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot. Serve topped with Parmesan.

Lavender

About 20 miles from our home in Harrogate was a retail park called Clifton Moor. Our reasons for driving there were usually the cinema and the Frankie & Benny’s restaurant. Frankie & Benny’s served almost American/Italian dishes (they’d have been more convincing without all the rocket) in a friendly, casual atmosphere. The best thing about the restaurant was the music. They played Wake Up Little Suzie by the Everly Brothers, Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by the Shirelles, and Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin. We didn’t even mind if our order was slow; we were having fun singing along. One day, while listening to Papa Loves Mambo, I realized Dean Martin could just as easily be singing about me: Mom Bowe. I was still smiling about that a few days later when I opened this blog and needed to come up with a name.

Castle Tower

When Walt opened Disneyland in 1955, Sleeping Beauty’s castle was the centerpiece of the park. He said it was designed after the castle in the 1959 movie. No, he wasn’t a time traveler; Disney’s Sleeping Beauty was well into production long before the theme park. I haven’t visited the Sleeping Beauty castle in Hong Kong (yet), but I’ve heard it was designed with Feng Shui in mind. My favorite Sleeping Beauty castle is Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant in France. It has scenes from the movie in huge stained glass windows, square topiary trees outside and an audio-animatronic dragon in the dungeon. The castle below is Cinderella’s at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. I’m told the Cinderella castle in Tokyo is very similar to this one, but I still think I should see it and decide for myself. Is it normal to add two items to your bucket list every time you check off one?

Sunflower

We first discovered it in late February while we were browsing the Forum Shops at Caesar's in Las Vegas. We’d wandered to the far end of the shopping center where the crowds gather to watch fish swim in an enormous tank and to see audio-animatronic Roman gods reenact the destruction of Atlantis. We were dieting, and we were hungry enough to lick paint off the walls. Instead we ducked into the Cheesecake Factory and ordered from their SkinnyLicious menu. I don’t remember what I had that day, (probably the salmon) but my husband asked for the Tuscan Chicken. It was grilled chicken breast with chopped tomatoes, artichokes and capers.  It was served over lightly steamed broccoli and farro (unground wheat that’s been cooked until tender - what we used to call wheat berries) and topped with fresh basil and a balsamic vinaigrette. He gave me a taste and I’ve been craving it ever since.

Family Album

“The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”  – from The Family, A Proclamation to the World, read by President Gordon B. Hinckley September 23, 1995